


What Are We?

by viviegirl05



Series: Wooing Barry [6]
Category: The Flash
Genre: Multi, Oblivious Barry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-04-14
Packaged: 2018-10-18 20:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10624938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viviegirl05/pseuds/viviegirl05
Summary: After Oliver got a call from Team Flash, he decides to pay a certain scarlet speedster a visit. It goes surprisingly well.





	

The day after Barry had been confronted by his team found Barry a bit tired. He, Mick, and Len had stayed up late watching movies- _Star Trek_ and _Star Trek Into Darkness_. A few hours into his shift, Barry had all but forgotten the confrontation of the previous night.

At around 5pm Barry had an unexpected visitor.

“Knock knock.”

“Oliver?” Barry looked up from the microscope he was working at. “What are you doing here?”

“A little birdie told me I needed to come talk some sense into you.”

Barry groaned, his head lolling back. “Who called you?”

“Joe. And Cisco. And Caitlin. Surprisingly, Iris called to tell me to give you a chance and to listen to what you had to say.” Oliver gave a small smile as he leaned on the table next to Barry. “By the way, _when_ did all these people get my number?” Thankfully he looked more amused than annoyed.

“Cisco probably stole it from my phone when I was out as the Flash,” Barry sighed.

Oliver huffed a laugh, “sounds like something Felicity would do.”

Barry laughed, “yeah, I can totally see her snooping through someone’s phone.”

They shared fond smiles as they thought of the overly talkative, good-intentioned IT wiz.

“So,” Oliver finally said. “You’re living with Leonard Snart and Mick Rory.”

“Captain Cold and Heatwave, yeah.”

“How did that come about?”

“Its,” Barry took a deep breath, “a long story.”

Oliver pulled up a chair, “well, I’m willing to put in the time to listen.”

“Alright, but it’s kinda weird. About two and a half months ago I came home from work and Len and Mick were in my kitchen. At first I was suspicious that they were up to something, 'cause, you know, supervillains, but they made me dinner- a bunch of lasagnas and some other stuff, enough to last me almost a week, even with my metabolism. And the food was seriously delicious too. I’ve honestly never had better kung pow chicken in my life- not even at a restaurant! Then like a week later they showed up to make me breakfast. They actually broke in and cooked it while I was sleeping, but the food was so good it was easy to forgive them.”

“You’d say that about anything- your appetite is insatiable.” Oliver accused good-naturedly.

“Not true. I won’t eat Iris’ meatloaf.”

“How bad is her meatloaf?”

“It’s borderline inedible," Barry deadpanned, looking thoroughly unimpressed. "Anyway, after breakfast I went to work. When I got home that night there was a rump roast in the oven and a bunch of food in my fridge. It was all delicious- Mick and Len are seriously good cooks. A few days after that they came by on my day off to make me Indian food. I ended up telling them all about Eobard and Dr. Wells and my mom and stuff. It was actually pretty nice to finally get it all out, and they just listened and were supportive and really great about it. Ever since then they’ve been making pretty much all my food for me. Almost every night after that they came over to make dinner for me and to hang out. Sometimes we'd watch movies or play video games or whatever. Once we played monopoly and stunningly enough neither of them cheated. Or, at least, I didn’t catch them cheating. Last week they decided to surprise me by moving me into a new apartment.”

“Wait. They surprised you by moving you into a new apartment? You realize that’s not normal, right?”

Barry couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah, I realize it isn’t normal. But you know what? I kinda love it. I didn’t have to deal with packing my stuff or renting a truck or anything, and the new apartment is great. It has a huge kitchen with an industrial sized refrigerator that I love. Seriously, there is so much room in there, there is _always_ food ready to be eaten. It’s great. Mick and Len got me a new mattress when they moved my stuff too, and its _heavenly_. They have a room across the hall from me and there’s even a guest room. I love it, and so far, I love living there. Despite everyone’s reactions.”

“They have a room separate from yours?”

“Yeah? Why wouldn’t they?”

“Well isn’t it traditional for boyfriends who move in together to share a bedroom?”

“What? We’re not dating!”

“Really?" Oliver raised his eyebrows skeptically, "based on what you’ve told me, it sure sounds like you’re dating. They cook for you, listen to your problems, you talk, spend time together, watch movies. Now you live together. Sounds like a relationship to me.”

“No, really, that’s not what’s going on.”

“Well then what _is_ going on, Barry?”

“I…well…look, why don’t you come over for dinner tonight? You can meet them and see- this is all totally platonic. You can stay in the guest room tonight.”

“Alright, if you insist.” Oliver looked disbelieving, but agreed to stay over nonetheless.

***

Dinner actually went stunningly well. They had chicken Kiev with fresh green beans and mashed potatoes – Barry of course had a dozen servings. He loved chicken Kiev as it reminded him of his mother, who called it “squirty chicken.”

Barry sat back with Mick while Len and Oliver argued the merits of chicken based dishes- which was better, chicken Kiev or chicken cordon bleu? What about chicken masala? They were deeply entrenched in their discussion, debating caloric content versus flavor versus prep time.

“Kinda funny, ain’t it?” Mick asked after a while.

“Yeah. Who would have thought Ollie had so many thoughts on my diet?”

“Or that the Green Arrow was such a foodie?” Mick chuckled.

Much to Oliver’s displeasure, Len and Mick knew who he was. Fortunately, they pointed out that they had known for years and had never said anything, so they were obviously trustworthy, heading off Oliver's ire early. Oliver had conceded that they had a point, and that if Barry trusted them, he trusted them. Barry had preened a bit at that, knowing that that was high praise coming from Oliver.

“He really is a great cook- he made me the most amazing smoked pork and pickle snack things last time I was in Star. I wonder if he’ll give us the recipe…”

“And by us you mean me and Len, right? I don’t want you going anywhere _near_ a cooking appliance after what happened last time.”

Barry blushed scarlet as the memory. He had tried to make some candied bacon for the three of them after he heard Cisco raving about it. Len and Mick had walked in on him right as the pan of bacon grease burst into flames.

“Hey! I was trying to do something nice by making us all a treat! And we put it out before anything was damaged!” 

“Yeah,” Mick laughed, “I still can’t believe that you’re a scientist and didn’t know not to put water on a grease fire!”

Barry blushed scarlet, embarrassed by the mere memory of the flames almost reaching the ceiling. He had panicked and started yelling obscenities while Len had yanked off his sweater and thrown it on the flames, smothering them and successfully dousing the fire. That was the first time Barry had caught a glimpse of Len’s tattoos. They covered his chest, back, and arms and were a beautiful mural he had longed to inspect closer. He had seen them a few times since as they were now living together. Every time he saw them I just wanted to _look_ and _touch_. But he couldn’t, Len was taken, he was with Mick, it would be wrong of Barry to practically molest him when he was in a relationship with someone else.

“I’m sure Len’ll be willing to swap a few recipes with Legolas. I have a feeling this won’t be the last time those two talk about food.”

“Doubtful,” Barry agreed.

He and Mick hunkered down for what was looking to be a long discussion between the two chefs.

***

The next morning Oliver and Barry went to a warehouse on the edge of town to train. They had been going at it for about half an hour when Oliver spoke up.

“So, Len and Mick.”

“What?” Barry was thrown by the sudden question and failed to dodge the punch Oliver threw. “Oof!” Barry fell smack on his butt.

“Don’t let anything distract you like that in the field.” Oliver held out a hand to help Barry up, easily pulling the lanky speedster to his feet. “You need to remain focused no matter what.”

“Right, right,” Barry muttered, taking a fighting stance.

“So, Len and Mick,” Oliver prompted again.

Barry threw a punch and followed it up with a quick knee to Oliver's stomach- not Flash quick, they were working on Barry’s hand-to-hand skills without the aid of his speed.

“What about them?” Barry asked.

“Well, you’re living with them, they cook all your meals, you’re obviously close.”

Oliver countered Barry with a series of jabs to specific pressure points on his torso and swift spinning kick, which Barry dodged smoothly.

“Your point?” Barry asked with a pointed look.

“Just saying, it sure seems like you’re dating to me.”

Barry grunted as Oliver’s fist caught him in the stomach. He swiped his feet at Oliver’s ankles in retribution, making him stumble, but not fall.

“We’re not dating.”

“How do you know?” Oliver looking at him pointedly before grabbing Barry and twisting him to pin him to the ground on his stomach, arm twisted behind his back. “I mean, you’re not the best at picking up subtle hints.”

Barry struggled to get loose for a bit before finally tapping out.

“Look,” he started as Oliver helped him up. “I get what you’re saying, I’m _not_ great at picking up subtle hints, but neither of them has ever made a move. They’ve never tried to kiss me or anything.”

“Barry,” Oliver gave him an unimpressed look. “Did it ever occur to you that they were courting you with the food and the spending time together and now the moving in together? Maybe they’re waiting for you to indicate that you want more, that you’re interested.”

Barry paused with a water bottle halfway to his mouth. “You think?”

“Seems likely.”

“Huh.”

Barry had a lot of thinking to do.


End file.
